March 29, 2017

The jet fighters of little birds. They move so fast from branch to branch it is hared to get a good photo.
I've said before it is like trying to get a photo of popcorn in the act of popping.

Same fast movement.

Regulus satrapa

The tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet is hardier than it looks, routinely wintering in areas where nighttime temperatures can fall below –40° Fahrenheit, which happens to be -40 Celsius.
It is the only point where the two different scales meet.

March 27, 2017

Another of the raptors we were able to photograph free flying at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy.

Haliaeetus leucocephalus The largest Bald Eagle nest on record, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 2.9 meters in diameter and 6.1 meters tall. Another famous nest—in Vermilion, Ohio—was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.

March 23, 2017

Not a large selection of birds this time of year, so I take what I can get.

This chickadee was good enough to pose for me.

Poecile atricapillus

According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology, every autumn Black-capped Chickadees allow brain neurons containing old information to die, replacing them with new neurons so they can adapt to changes in their social flocks and environment even with their tiny brains.

March 20, 2017

Not only did we hear woodcock we also had, robins,cardinals,wild turkeys,tundra swans, Canadian geese and coyotes joining in the evening song.
A bonus was a great horned owl flying by.

We did see woodcock doing their display flights.

This is an older photo as there was no opportunity to get a shot this evening.

Welcome back Spring.

Scolopax minor
Wouldn’t it be useful to have eyes in the back of your head? American Woodcocks come close—their large eyes are positioned high and near the back of their skull. This arrangement lets them keep watch for danger in the sky while they have their heads down probing in the soil for food.

March 16, 2017

I came across a flock of over 1,000 tundra swans today just outside of Rondeau Provincial Park.They were flying over the road making a cacophony of sound.

Many were flying low and just clearing a cedar hedge row. These are not cropped.One still had dirt on its face from foraging in the corn stubble.

Cygnus columbianusBased on banding records, the oldest known Tundra Swan was a female and at least 23 years, 7 months old when she was identified by her band in the wild, in Ohio. She had been banded in the same state.

March 13, 2017

Grackles, redwings and starlings have been mobbing our feeders for two weeks.

I don't begrudge them the food but nothing else can come in when they are there.

Quiscalus quiscula

Common Grackles are resourceful foragers. They sometimes follow plows to catch invertebrates and mice, wade into water to catch small fish, pick leeches off the legs of turtles, steal worms from American Robins, raid nests, and kill and eat adult birds.

March 07, 2017

About 50 Cedar Waxwings were in the trees at the Rondeau Provincial Park Campground a few days ago.

They tore through the juniper and cedars stripping the berries.A few minutes later they were gone.Bombycilla cedrorum The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet.

March 05, 2017

It seems everyone is posting great horned owls this time of year
So I decided I would put up my photo, just to be social.
The location of this bird was published in the local paper but the exact location of the nest was not.

Bubo virginianus

Great Horned Owls are fierce predators that can take large prey, including raptors such as Ospreys, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, and other owls. They also eat much smaller items such as rodents, frogs, and scorpions.

March 02, 2017

One of the more unusual birds we saw in Ecuador was the sword-billed hummingbird.

Ensifera ensifera

This is the only bird species with a bill length that exceeds the body length. When seen perched, the species usually holds its bill quite upright, presumably because of balance issues stemming from this long and relatively heavy structure. -source Cornell Lab of